Skylar Annette Neese
She was born February 10, 1996 to Mary and Dave Neese.
She was their only child.
At that time Mary worked as an administrative assistant in a cardiac lab and Dave was a product assembler at Walmart.
She was an honors student at University High School who worked at Wendy's and wanted to become a criminal lawyer.
According to her father “Skylar was a very bubbly person,”
“She was also very loyal to her friends, the people she thought was her friends.”
Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf
Both girls attended University High School along with Skylar.
Shelia Rae Eddy was born September 28, 1995 to Tara Clendenen and Greg Eddy.
Rachel Shoaf was born June 10, 1996 to Rusty and Patricia Shoaf.
Skylar Neese met Shelia Eddy at age 8.
Skylar had a close relationship with Shelia, but their friendship became strained when they met Rachel while in freshmen year at high school.
Skylar's dad said “She was like a part of our family.
She really was, I mean, just like one of our kids.”
Skylar reportedly became upset to see Shelia and Rachel become close and allegeded lovers.
Shelia and Rachel may have feared their secret afair would become public.
THE MURDER
On July 5, 2012, 16 year old Skylar returned to her family's apartment in Star City, West Virginia after working a shift at Wendy's.
Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf had invited Skylar to sneak out with them.
Skylar was initially hesitant because she had a recent falling out with the two girls.
After a series of phone calls and texts from the girls, Skylar was presuaded to go.
On July 6th at 12:30 a.m., her apartment complex's surveillance video showed that Skylar left the apartment through her bedroom window, crossed the street and got into the back seat of a four-door sedan driven.
She did not take her cell phone charger, and her window was left open, so she could sneek back in later.
The three girls then headed northwest from Star City toward Blacksville via U.S. Route 19, eventually arriving at their destination.
They were just across the Pennsylvania state border, where all three of the girls would occasionally smoke marijuana.
When all three girls got out of the vehicle, Shelia and Rachel told Skylar they had forgotten to bring a lighter.
Skylar volunteered to go back to the vehicle to fetch her own lighter and turned her back to Shelia and Rachel.
Shelia and Rachel began counting to three and then started stabbing Skylar.
Skylar attempted to run, but was only able to get a few feet before Rachel tackled her to the ground and continued the assault.
During this, Skylar managed to wrestle the knife from Rachel's hand and cut Rachel's knee.
Shelia continued to stab Skylar until there was complete silence.
According to Rachel, "Skylar's neck stopped making gurgling sounds."
Shelia and Rachel attempted to bury the body.
They first tried dragging Skylar to the side of the road.
This wasn't working because the road ran along a creek and the soil there was too hard and rocky to dig a hole.
Instead, they covered Skylar's body with rocks, fallen branches, and dirt.
Then they returned to the car to clean themselves and the murder scene.
They then disposed of their blood-soaked clothing and returned to their homes.
THE NEXT DAY
Her dad said he discovered that she didn’t sleep in her bed.
Later he found her window screen in her closet and a hidden bench.
Her dad said “Then I knew: she snuck out last night,”
“And then, oh my god, she snuck out last night, and she’s not home.”
After Skylar missed work for the first time ever, her parents called police to report her missing.
THE INVESTIGATION
Police investigated several unproductive leads in Skylar's disappearance.
Skylar was initially considered to be a runaway by the authorities, and an Amber Alert was not immediately issued.
Investigators soon came to believe something sinister happened to her.
Skylar's parents posted flyers about their missing daughter in the Monongalia County region.
Shelia helped the family look for her by distributing missing person fliers.
On July 7, 2012, Shelia and her mom helped Skylar Neese’s parents canvass the neighborhood looking for Skylar Neese, while Rachel Shoaf left for Catholic summer camp for two weeks.
Police determined that the sedan in which Skylar Neese was last seen belonged to Shelia.
They interviewed Shelia and she admitted to picking up Skylar at 11 p.m., but stated that she had dropped her off an hour later after they got high at midnight.
They supposedly dropped Shelia off at the end of the road, because she didn't want to wake up her parents sneaking back in.
The FBI and the West Virginia State Police joined the search for Skylar Neese on September 10, 2012.
They began interviewing Skylar's school friends.
Jessica Colebank, who was working on the case, found Shelia's demeanor suspicious when she went to speak to her.
She said that Shelia was “Just complete blank on emotions and there was absolutely nothing. It was like iced over.”
She thought that Rachel seemed very nervous when she first spoke to her.
She that “Their stories were verbatim, the same.
No one’s story is exactly the same, unless it’s rehearsed,”
“Everything in my gut was, ‘Sheila is acting wrong.
Rachel is scared to death.’”
Surveillance video and cell phone records proved Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf were lying about what happened the night they last saw Skylar Neese.
On Dec. 28, 2012, Rachel Shoaf had a nervous breakdown and was committed to a local psychiatric hospital.
After being discharged from the hospital on Jan. 3, 2013, Rachel Shoaf finally admitted plotting with Shelia Eddy to kill Skylar, because they "didn't like her".
After her confession, Rachel Shoaf led investigators to Skylar's body in Wayne Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania, less than 30 miles away from Skylar's home.
On January 16, 2013 her remains were possitivly identified.
Skylar's post-mortem revealed more than 50 stab wounds.
With Skylar's body located and her blood found on Shelia's van, there was enough evidence to arresst Shelia and Rachel.
CHARGES
On May 1, 2013, Rachel pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Rachel said that she and Shelia picked up Skylar in Shelia's van and the girls drove to Pennsylvania.
They got out of the car, and began socializing.
Then at a pre-arranged time, Shelia and Rachel stabbed Skylar to death on the count of three.
They then attempted to bury Skylar's body, but were unable to do so and instead covered the body with branches.
Other students overheard conversations between Shelia and Rachel about the murder plot, but failed to report it.
Rachel pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree by "unlawfully, feloniously, willfully, maliciously and intentionally causing the death of Skylar Neese by stabbing her and causing fatal injuries".
In the plea agreement, the State of West Virginia will recommend a sentence of 40 years incarceration.
Following her guilty plea on May 1, 2013, Rachel received a sentence of 30 years in prison, and will be eligible for parole after 10 years.
On September 4, 2013, Shelia was publicly identified as the second alleged perpetrator of the murder of Skylar Neese and announced that she would be tried as an adult.
She was indicted by a grand jury on September 6, 2013 with one count of kidnapping, one count of first-degree murder, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
She pleaded not guilty to these charges.
The date of the trial was originally set for January 28, 2014, but facing the prospect of charges from both federal and Pennsylvania authorities in addition to the West Virginia charges, Shelia pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
Shelia was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
SKYLAR'S LAW
A West Virginia state legislator from the Skylar's family home district introduced a bill called Skylar's Law.
It would modify West Virginia's Amber Alert plan to issue immediate public announcements when any child is reported missing and in danger, regardless of whether the child is believed to have been kidnapped.
On March 27, 2013, the West Virginia House of Delegates approved Skylar's Law with a 98-0 vote.
On April 12, 2013, the West Virginia Senate unanimously passed the law, but made minor technical changes.
West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed the legislation into law in May 2013.
OTHER NOTE
Some people think that Shelia confided in her cousin, Alexis Eddy, about Skylar's murder.
Alexis denies any involvement.
No comments:
Post a Comment